he migrated, and it is probable that he lived some seventy-odd years; I do not think he reached one hundred. Whoever has sound knowledge on the matter should inform us.

Abu’l-Faraj ibn al-Jawzi and others have reported claims about his extraordinary lifespan, yet I have found nothing in those reports that deserves reliance.

Jaʿfar ibn Sulaymān narrated from Thābit al-Bunānī—and the report appears in al-ʿIlal (1) of Ibn Abī Ḥātim—that he said:

“When Salman fell ill, Saʿd left Kūfa to visit him. On arriving he found him in the throes of death, weeping. He greeted him, sat down, and asked, ‘What is making you weep, my brother? Do you not recall the companionship of the Messenger of Allah? Do you not remember the blessed campaigns?’

Salman replied, ‘By Allah, neither of two things makes me weep: I do not weep out of love for this world, nor out of dislike of meeting Allah.’

Saʿd asked, ‘Then what makes you weep after eighty years?’

He said, ‘What makes me weep is that my close friend bound me to a covenant; he said, “Let the portion any one of you takes from this world be no more than the provisions of a traveller.” We now fear that we have exceeded that.’ (2)”

Some transmitters have narrated the report from Thābit with the wording “from Abū ʿUthmān,” and leaving it mursal is the more likely view. This was stated by Abū Ḥātim, and it shows you that he was in his eighties.

I myself recorded in my al-Tārīkh al-Kabīr that he lived two hundred and fifty years, but at present I am not satisfied with that and do not consider it authentic.

Abū Ṣāliḥ reported: al-Layth narrated to us, saying, “Yahyā ibn Saʿīd related to me from Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab, who said: ‘Salman and ʿAbdullāh ibn Salām met, and one of them said to his companion, “If you meet your Lord…’”